Moral Foundations Questionnaire and Moral Foundations Sacredness Scale: Assessing the Factorial Structure of the Dutch Translations.

The Moral Foundations Questionnaire (MFQ) and the Moral Foundations Sacredness Scale (MFSS) have been proposed to advance conceptualizations of morality. This study assesses the factor structure of the Dutch translations of the short version of the MFQ (20 items) and the full MFSS. The five-factor model posited by Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) is compared against alternative models of morality. Correlational analyses are performed between the best-fitting models. A multi-group confirmatory factor analysis of the optimal model is tested across gender. Data are taken from an online survey of a student sample (N = 1496). Results suggest that the Dutch translation of the MFQ20 does not converge on the proposed five-factor model. Conversely, MFSS subscales show good model fit, but intercorrelations among the five subscales are high. Weak invariance is retained for MFSS but not for MFQ20. Overall, the present study shows that the Dutch version of the MFSS scale performs better than the MFQ20 in terms of scale reliability, fit indices, and measurement invariance testing. More methodological inquiries on MFSS are welcomed, whereas the use of the MFQ20 should be discouraged. Instead, researchers on moral foundations are encouraged to empirically test the psychometric properties of the recently revised MFQ-2, developed by the authors of MFT as a more accurate instrument for the conceptualization of morality.

Intentions to Steal and the Commitment Problem. The Role of Moral Emotions and Self-Serving Justifications.

This study focuses on determinants underlying young persons" self-reported intentions to steal a small amount of money. From an evolutionary standpoint, theft is a frequency-dependent strategy that may have been favored because it gave individuals a reproductively-relevant advantage in the competition for scarce resources. Although human groups do not tolerate the act of stealing, theft is still very common. Our study is rooted in Robert Frank's theory of the moral commitment problem. Moral emotions such as anticipated guilt are devices designed by evolutionary forces to motivate cooperative behavior in situations entailing a commitment problem. However, the anticipation of guilt feelings can be circumvented by self-serving justifications, therefore increasing the likelihood to steal. A large region-wide sample of adolescents (N = 3694) is used to analyze whether anticipated moral guilt and self-serving justifications mediate the effects of empathy, fear sensitivity, and perceived peer disapproval in their relationship to intentions to steal. Several propositions are tested in a latent variable model within the framework of SEM. Visual scenarios depicting an opportunity to take a small amount of money from a stranger are used to elicit participants" self-reported intentions to steal. Results suggest that empathic concern and empathic perspective-taking, perceived peer disapproval, and fear sensitivity affect the likelihood of theft by influencing anticipated guilt and self-serving justifications that, in turn, respectively reduce and promote the likelihood of theft.

Empathy and theft by finding: The intermediary role of moral emotions and norms.

This study explores the intermediary role of anticipated shame, guilt, and norms in the association between empathy and the likelihood of a specific uncooperative act: theft by finding. Empirical evidence supports a negative association between empathy and a broad range of uncooperative behaviors. Some studies suggest that empathy reduces noncooperation via intermediary factors such as empathy and moral emotions shame and guilt. Inspired by Martin Hoffman's empathy-based theory of moral development, we propose a testable model in which individual differences in empathic concern and perspective-taking are positively related to anticipated guilt, shame, and conduct-specific moral norm, which in turn reduce the likelihood of theft by finding. Data were collected from a region-wide cross-sectional sample of adolescents and young adults in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium in 2019 (N = 3591). Overall, our propositions were corroborated. Structural equation modeling suggests that empathic concern inhibits the likelihood of theft by finding via anticipated guilt-shame. The discussion focuses on a better understanding of the relationship between empathy, moral dimensions, and uncooperative choices.

A Multilevel Perspective on the Health Effect of Social Capital: Evidence for the Relative Importance of Individual Social Capital over Neighborhood Social Capital.

Employing a multilevel perspective on the health effects of social capital, this study analyzes how individual and neighborhood differences in self-rated health in Ghent (Belgium), relate to individual and collective social mechanisms, when taking demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of individuals into account. This study estimates the health effects of social trust, informal social control and disorder at the neighborhood level and social support and network size at the individual level, using indicators indebted to both the normative and resource-based approaches to social capital. Instead of the mere aggregation of individual indicators of social capital, this study uses the key informant technique as a methodologically superior measurement of neighborhood social capital, which combined with a multilevel analysis strategy, allows to disentangle the health effects of individual and neighborhood social capital. The analysis highlights the health benefits of individual social capital, i.e., individual social support and network size. The study indicates that controlling for individual demographic and socioeconomic characteristics reduces the effect of the neighborhood-level counterparts and the neighborhood characteristics social trust and neighborhood disorder have significant, but small health effects. In its effects on self-rated health, social capital operates on the individual level, rather than the neighborhood level.

Testing Measurement Invariance of the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen in a Belgian Adult Sample.

The Dirty Dozen (Jonason & Webster, 2010) is a frequently used concise version of the Dark Triad to measure three socially aversive personality traits: Machiavellianism, psychopathy and, narcissism. The present study has examined measurement invariance in a sample of Belgian adults. The present study aims to assess measurement invariance of the Dutch version of the Dirty Dozen measure across gender in a large city-based representative adult sample in Belgium (N = 1587). Multi-group first-order confirmatory factor analysis for categorical indicators was utilized. In addition, unique associations between Dirty Dozen traits, trait self-control and, acceptance of illegitimate norms were examined in a series of structural equation models. Results indicated that the internal consistency of the Dirty Dozen subscales was good for Machiavellianism (α = 0.80) and narcissism (α = 0.80), but modest for psychopathy (α = 0.64). The hypothesized three correlated factors model with separate factors for Machiavellianism, psychopathy and, narcissism provided a poor fit for men and women. Invariance testing across gender showed evidence for weak invariance only, indicating that the underlying latent factors are measured the same way with the same metric in the two populations. However, we were not able to establish strong measurement invariance. Observed group differences should be interpreted with caution. Furthermore, Machiavellianism and psychopathy were strongly associated with trait self-control in both men and women. Strong correlations were found between acceptance of illegitimate norms and Dirty Dozen traits, Machiavellianism and, psychopathy, but not with narcissism.

Perceived Group Threat, Perceived Injustice, and Self-Reported Right-Wing Violence: An Integrative Approach to the Explanation Right-Wing Violence.

The present study aims at explaining individual differences in self-reported political violence. We integrate key concepts from the field of criminology that are conceptually related to social identity theory (Flemish identity, feelings of group superiority, and ethnocentrism) and the dual process model on prejudice (perceived injustice, perception of threat, and right-wing authoritarianism). In our model, social identity concepts are hypothesized to play a mediating role between mechanisms derived from the dual process model and political violence. To test the integrated model, a model was run for testing the strength of direct and indirect effects of perceived injustice, authoritarianism thrill-seeking behavior, feelings of superiority, Flemish nationalism, ethnocentrism, right-wing extremist beliefs, and exposure to racist peers on political violence. The analyses are based on a web survey (N = 723) among adolescents and young adults in Flanders, Belgium. Results indicate that social identity variables play an important mediation role between perceptions and ideological attitudes related to injustice, and political violence. The main path revealed by our study is that perceived injustice may result in heightened perceptions of threat, which in turn positively influence levels of right-wing authoritarianism. Mediated by ethnocentrism, this variable has a significant and positive effect on right-wing beliefs, which in turn has a positive effect on political violence.

An examination of the interaction between morality and self-control in offending: A study of differences between girls and boys.

BACKGROUND: There is a well-documented gender difference in offending, with evidence that boys, on average, are more involved in crime than girls. Opinions differ, however, on whether the causes of crime apply to girls and boys similarly. AIMS: Our aim is to explore crime propensity in boys and girls. Our research questions were (1) are there differences between boys and girls in moral values and self-control; (2) are these attributes similarly correlated with offending among girls and boys; and (3) is any interaction effect between morality and self-control identical for girls and boys. METHODS: Data were drawn from the Malmö Individual and Neighbourhood Development Study, which includes 481 girls and boys aged 16-17. An 8-item self-control scale was derived from Grasmick's self-control instrument; we created a 16-item morality scale. Analysis of variance was used to test for differences in scale scores. RESULTS: There were significant gender differences in moral values but not self-control. Moral values and self-control were significantly correlated with offending among both girls and boys. In the multiple regression analysis, the three-way interaction term used to test the interaction between gender, self-control and moral values was non-significant, indicating that the magnitude of the self-control-moral value interaction is not affected by gender. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that effects of morality and self-control are general and apply to girls and boys similarly, so more research is needed to explain gender differences in crime prevalence. © 2018 The Authors Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.